You can activate it by using the email and password attached to your Stardock account. The info with which you purchased.

Hm, if he was able to update after the sub ended, I would be very angry as a paying subscriber. Why would I have to pay the subscription then ?

You can (as I understand it) activate an existing version of the software after the subscription expires (should only need to if you have to reinstall it) by using the account creds as RND describes.

If an existing installation is actually offering a pop-up announcing a new version after the sub has expired, there may be a bug that SD should look at.

I can perfectly understand proceeding with the update installation if it was prompted as this scenario suggests, which would indeed negate the ability to activate the updated version.

The solution for johnsaucier would be to uninstall the 'new' version and re-install the old, previously paid-for version.  That assumes (the old bugaboo) that he downloaded & saved the 'old' installer.

I ended up just removing it entirely. The issue was that it asked me to update, then invalidated my existing license once it had updated, which is kind of a malicious thing to do to someone who paid for the software to begin with.

But its all good, now that I have money I'm just going to renew everything anyway.

If they, like me, purchased WindowBlinds separately from the Object Desktop Subscription, then they should be able to use the original purchase info to get it working on it's own again.

I had to do that when I dropped my subscription and now keep all of my software registered individually and won't go through that again with the "subscription plan".

I'm not a fan of software by subscription when it comes to anything outside a game, streaming service or things of that nature. Definitely not something I count on every moment of my use of the system to maintain a stable, dependable environment.

If you purchase a stand-alone app you will receive updates typically until the next major version. 

The original issue was that it asked me to update a copy that was working, and then invalidated the license after update.

Here's the thing, I agree if I'm paying to get the updates then I shouldn't be able to update it after it expires. However, the company should really write their software in a way that once a subscription isn't valid, there shouldn't be a way to update it.

It should just prompt you that no updates are available, or at the very least tell you that updating this will invalidate your license, but really you should not have access to something that you haven't paid for.

I just see it as skeezy, "Oh there is an update available." Update... "HAHA it no longer works, PAY US!"


It doesn't matter if I can restore it by uninstalling and reinstalling the original copy, its bad practice to offer the update in the first place if I shouldn't be able to get it because I haven't paid for.

It just seems like something that would be very easy for Stardock to fix, that doesn't require the user having to do extra steps to make sure they aren't trying to get something they shouldn't have.

Like I said, as soon as I had money, I bought a new sub for it anyway, but I didn't reinstall windows blinds, because I do not ever want to have to reinstall something because of something the company did.

Anyway that's just my two cents on it.

I think Johnsaucier's issue is WB prompting a "new update available....." without warning expired subscribers that once updated the version said is required to renewal for working.